


Snapshots

by SharpestRose



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-04
Updated: 2011-07-04
Packaged: 2017-10-21 00:37:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/218990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SharpestRose/pseuds/SharpestRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the ordinary world, in a very ordinary school, facing ordinary problems, two little children realise they are anything but ordinary.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Snapshots

He was a particularly intelligent child, the teachers all commented on it. Too quiet, but very smart. They'd moved him up two levels at school already, so while everyone else in his class had celebrated their ninth birthdays, he was only seven.

This, coupled with a quietness that bordered on timidity, made him an easy target for bullies. The worst of them was Petunia Evans, a mean-eyed, long-necked girl who liked to pry into other people's business, especially when they were smaller then her.

"You weren't at school yesterday. Playing truant?" she asked with a cruel smirk.

"My mother was sick." Remus replied with his usual even voice.

"That's what you said last time. I bet you play hooky." Put out by the fact he never rose to her teasing, Petunia snatched the book he was reading, holding it high in the air.

It was a sunny day and all the other children were using their lunch hour to swing on the monkeybars and play hopscotch, but Remus was sitting under a tree, reading with tired eyes.

"Give that back please." he said now. Petunia held it higher instead. "Give it back." He repeated.

"You're a nerdy little swot."

"Give me my book back!" Remus yelled as he got to his feet.

"What's going on?" a little girl with flame-red pigtails, a thin face and bright green eyes came over, glaring at Petunia. "What are you doing, 'Tunia?"

"None of your business." Petunia sneered. "Go back to your baby games."

"You're a mean pig." Remus said hotly. "And I want my book back."

"Give him his book back." the red-haired girl said, a note of threatening in her voice. Petunia, still holding the book too high for Remus to grasp, reached out her other hand and tugged on one of the smaller girl's pigtails.

"Ow!" the girl's green eyes narrowed.

"Don't hurt her." Remus' voice was still even and polite, but the same warning tone the little girl has spoken with was in his words.

"Why not? What're you going to do, little baby?" Petunia was momentarily distracted by a group of girls calling for her to join their skipping game. Remus muttered something and the book flew into his hands. Petunia looked at her empty palms, surprised.

"Ha ha, you dropped it." the girl with firey hair taunted, pulling Remus away before Petunia could do anything else.

"My name's Lily." She introduced herself when they were a safe distance away.

"Remus." they shook hands. Lily had a warm smile, something that hadn't been apparent during the earlier confrontation.

"That was my sister. She's horrible." Lily screwed her face up in disgust.

"I know." Remus agreed.

"How did you do that with your book?"

"What? She dropped it, like you said."

"No." Lily shook her head, the red pigtails slapping against her face gently. "I saw it. You said something and it was like an invisible rope pulled it to you."

"I didn't say anything." Remus' young face was looking very worried now.

"C'mon." Lily begged. "I'm good at keeping secrets. I'll never tell a single person."

"All right." Perhaps it was because she'd defended him, or because she had a kind smile. For whatever reason, Remus felt as if he could trust her. "I learnt it from my Dad. He sometimes uses it to get the paper if he's already in his comfy chair." The explination was a sheepish one. "He doesn't know I know it, and he and Mum don't like me talking to other kids very much, so you've really, really got to keep the secret, ok?"

"I already said I would." Lily reminded him.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Like this then. Here, you hold it and then I go _Accio book_." The slim paperback responded instantly.

"Cool." Lily said with an incredulous grin. "Can I try?"

"Sure." Remus held the book up on his palms. Lily looked at it intently, her forehead wrinkling with concentration. " _Accio book_."

It shot through the air and hit her square on the chest, sending her sprawling onto the ground. She looked up at Remus with very surprised eyes, and after a moment they both dissolved into gales of laughter.

 

 -------

 

Remus was two and a half months older then little Lily Evans from three streets over, so he'd hit eleven long ago. She, however, was only hours away from this particular birthday.

"What's up Lilypilly?" he asked, flopping down next to her on the lawn in front of her house where he'd found her. They were closer to each other then they were to their respective families a lot of the time, not exactly friends but more like kindred spirits.

"'Tunia was teasing me before. Saying I'm in love with you." Lily's voice was full of sarcastic annoyance.

"Wouldn't be so bad. You'd be Lily Lupin then, a real flower child." Remus pointed out with a smirk. Lily laughed.

"Yeah, peace man." she raised two fingers in the peace sign, then sighed again. "I turn eleven tomorrow." her voice was so melodramatic it was almost comical.

"I fail to see the unhappiness." Remus admitted. "You'll get lots of presents."

"But not what I want." Now she was speaking so despondently it was almost heartbreaking. When Remus had shown her the letter that had arrived for him on his eleventh birthday, she thought she'd turn as green as the ink on the envelope with envy.

"You never know." he said encouragingly. "I certainly didn't expect to get one, and you've done a lot more magic stuff by accident then me."

"I don't know why you always say you were surprised to get one. Your parents are both so loopy it's a wonder nobody notices. The loopy Lupins." Lily said with a smile. "Do you have some horrible secret or something?"

"'Course not." he smiled back, but the smile was sad somehow.

"I'm going to be a stupid Muggle my whole life." Lily said with a despairing kind of finality. "You're going to go off and learn all kinds of amazing things."

"I keep telling you, kids from families just like yours get accepted all the time. You turned my yoghurt into icecream yesterday."

"Not on purpose." Lily refused to see the upside, to hold any hope.

"I hope you're just being a wet blanket." Remus offered by way of comfort.

~

Even her mother telling her that she had mail the following morning didn't excite Lily. It was, just as she expected, cards from her aunt in Austria and cousins in Dublin. Underneath these, however, was a sturdy letter of parchment, sealed with a familiar crest.

Running out of her front room dressed in her pyjamas and dressing gown, holding the letter in her hand as if it was solid gold, Lily ran through the streets to her friend's home.

 

 -------

"He has your eyes." Remus pointed out as the baby yawned again.

"And my temper." Lily agreed, carrying a pitcher of juice and a plate of quarter-sandwiches to the table. "If he doesn't get his way, he gets annoyed."

"So I see." Remus' voice was wry as little Harry tried to wrap his plump fingers around the wand in the man's pocket, then squawked in protest as it was moved out of his reach.

"I wish you'd agreed to be a godfather to him, as well as Sirius." Lily's voice was soft as she watched Harry settle down in his highchair.

"No, Lily, no child needs a godfather like me. Harry will just have to make do with having an Uncle Remus in the picture."

Lily grinned at the joke, then her face became serious again.

"I'm going to miss this house, I think. The new one's much smaller - "

"Don't say any more." Remus warned her. "It's not safe."

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. There's a way to keep the hosue safe, to keep Harry and James and myself out of harm's way."

"Fidelius." his voice was a little sharper then he meant it to be. Lily nodded. "I'm flattered, Lily, but no."

She looked confused and a little hurt. "Why not? You're my dearest friend. James and I trust you with our lives."

"You shouldn't." his voice was bitter. Harry gurgled in his chair.

Lily stood with her feet slightly apart, hands on her hips. Fighting stance. Remus stood too.

"Why on earth not?" she snapped.

"Because no matter how much I dote on your little boy, or care about you like a sister, no matter how many hairbrained schemes James and I were co-conspirators in, you can't trust me." he didn't raise his voice, but the words were as forceful as a shout. "I can't even trust myself. Werewolves are dark creatures, Lil, and you shouldn't trust one any more then you should trust a dementor."

"I'm not putting my trust in a werewolf." she had a tone of voice emphatic enough to match his own. I'm putting my trust in Remus J Lupin. And he wouldn't betray a friend if his life depended on it."

He smiled a little at that, but the expression wasn't happy. "Your faith means a lot to me, but it's undeserved."

"I still refuse to believe that's true." Lily maintained. "But I respect your choice. We'll ask Dumbledore then, or - "

"Don't even tell me the potential keeper's names." Remus said, cutting her off. "It's safer if you don't."

Lily nodded with another exasperated sigh.


End file.
